Md. Rep. Harris recalls ‘profound experience’ with pope

When Pope Francis speaks before a joint session of Congress on Thursday, Rep. Andy Harris will let his colleagues grab the premium seats.

That’s because the Maryland Republican, a devout Catholic, met with the pope three weeks ago at the Vatican during an international conference of Catholic legislators.

“I’ll give somebody else the opportunity to sit up front,” Harris said during a Monday interview.

It was a “profound experience” to meet Pope Francis in the reception hall of his historic papal residence, Harris said. He was among about 150 legislators visiting the Vatican from around the world, and Harris said the pope asked to meet each one personally.

Harris said he thanked Francis for his advocacy on “pro-life issues,” and the Argentine pontiff — whom Harris described as “very friendly and personable” — smiled when the message was translated into Spanish. The pope also greeted two of Harris’ children, who were traveling with him.

“I didn’t expect for it to be such a profound experience,” Harris said. “I really never expected to personally meet the pope.”

Catholic News Agency reported that Francis urged the Catholic legislators on Aug. 30 to protect human life, including unborn children and migrants. The legislators gave Francis a document detailing their commitment to promoting life in their nations, according to the agency.

Harris said he hopes Francis will remind lawmakers Thursday that their purpose is to “help others and to respect human dignity, fight for social justice and be environmental stewards,” and begin a political discussion on how that should be done.

“People complain about gridlock in Washington a lot,” Harris said. “But there are some basic issues that we should deal with and I hope he convinces lawmakers that it’s time to deal with the issues.”

A recent national poll by YouGov shows the pontiff has high approval ratings among likely voters who are Catholic. Eighty-three percent of 1,000 people surveyed view the pope favorably and 82 percent support his leadership, according to the poll commissioned by Faith in Public Life and the Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington.

The poll found partisan differences, with 70 percent of GOP Catholics saying the pope is leading the church in the right direction, compared to 92 percent of Democratic Catholics and 77 percent of independent Catholics who say that.

Francis has made strong statements against the “idolatry of money,” the need to focus on the poor and the role humans play in climate change.

Harris said Francis’ idea of environmental stewardship as a “natural evolution of respect for every person” is “logical” and should be viewed in the context of respect for human dignity. In 2012, Harris said during a Senate committee hearing that human contribution to climate change is a “complex question.” He questioned whether, if humans are contributing to the problem, that’s possible to change, according to a Politico report.

“Should we discuss stewardship of the environment? Yes, we should,” Harris said Monday. “We should balance it, of course, with the ability of people who are less well off to be able to have a decent living, to have electricity, for instance.”

Harris said Francis has not changed church doctrine, and the perception that he has is “way overblown.” The need to share with the less fortunate is rooted in biblical tradition, he said. The pope’s message of mercy is also a “millennia-old doctrine of the church,” Harris said.

“But he certainly has been an effective communicator about the church position, which is not new, that this is a church of mercy and forgiveness,” he said.